Rheumatoid if correctly diagnosed has a continuous treatment.Get ESR,CRP ANTI_CCP serum tests for exact nature of disease.If it shows normal values , no medication needs be done. If diagnosis is confirmed on these tests, then medication may be needed, yes, there are remissions and exacerbation off and on and , symptom free period doesn't mean disease free. Yes depending on medication selected by your doctor , sometimes if only NSAIDS been given, they can be stopped if pain ,swelling free, but if DMARD treatment been begun , then some maintenance dose is prescribed even in remission period. It all depends on severity of disease and on DAS score.

Hello, this is just to inform you that treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is life long. The characteristic feature of RA is remissions (symptom free period) and exacerbations (increase in severity of symptoms). Propably your brother might have been in remission phase without any symptoms and this doesn't mean to say that he is totally free of disease. So you have to definitely continue taking medications. Beware that RA affects all synovial joints in the body and makes a person crippled if treatment is neglected. Hope i made it clear for you. Regards